Plagiarism is, no doubt, an unethical and disgraceful activity. It is not merely cheating others work but is some sort of intellectual theft. So, it is prohibited and considered abhorrent all over the world in academia.

Recently in many higher education institutes and universities of Pakistan, like UET Lahore, GCU Lahore, Karachi University and Punjab University, many cases of plagiarism have been popped up. Many PhD professors have been accused of plagiarism. They are charged of plagiarizing others work in their transactions, papers or thesis. It is demoralizing and embarrassing situation which can brutally affect higher education progress in Pakistan in many ways, like

1- Foreign aid for the development of science and technology in Pakistan can be cut down.

2- Pavement of Pakistani researches in various fields of science and technology can be discouraged and considered bogus.

3- Students who are studying abroad can encounter prejudice on the basis that they have past academic records from a plagiarism condoning institute.

4- It promotes cheating and dishonesty in higher education institutes and discourages advancement in technology and research work.

Plagiarism in universities is not a new thing but recently few accusations have stirred the media to report them. There are very few renowned universities in Pakistan which are promoting higher education and research work. Condoning plagiarism degrades their rank both in Pakistan and abroad. These reputed institutes have been providing talented, skillful and shrewdest engineers, doctors, researchers, teachers, economists and journalists to the state for many years. Prosperity in Pakistan is also tied with the promotion of higher education and plagiarism just weakens this tie.

Higher Education Commission (HEC) has very categorical policy against plagiarism. Many cases of plagiarism are queued in the Quality Assurance (QA) division inside HEC. A glimpse on this queue reveals that many renowned universities are condoning plagiarism. Plagiarists are either ignorant of HEC Policy against Plagiarism or enjoying freedom of being un-answerable. Most of the recent cases in universities are the part of feud between two professors or group of professors accusing and being accused of plagiarism. So, universities where such cases evolve do not regulate HEC plagiarism policy and also do not take strict measures against plagiarists.

A simple question arises in mind that what advantage is associated with plagiarism? Its answer has many dimensions. Attaining success in shortcut is ubiquitous custom in our society. Plagiarist professors, who are mostly on tenure and supposed to prepare thesis and papers on annual basis, use this tool to prolong their tenure. Many universities get grant on the basis of their contribution in research related fields. So, these universities often condone plagiarism to get aid and/or increment in university’s ranking.

HEC and Education Ministry of Pakistan should take strong measures against plagiarism. They should promote awareness against plagiarism in all universities and higher education institutes among teachers, professors, researchers and students. All institutes should be bound to regulate strict policy against plagiarism both on faculty and student level and healthy encouraging environment should be provided to promote research and development work.

If this dilemma is not be removed from our higher education institutes we will be promoting dishonesty and cheating and we will be wasting our nation’s talent, self-confidence and sapience.